Table tilt device for taper



Oct. 13, 1959 C. D. KEELY TABLE TILT DEVICE FOR TAPER Filed Dec. 13, 1956 INVENTOR. 4 B5 1 2 2770 ENE Y5 I IF United States Patent 2,908,497 TABLE TILT DEVICE FOR TAPER' Clilford D. Keely, West Englewood, NJ. Application December 13, 1956, Serial No. 628,119

7 Claims. (Cl. 271-62) This invention relates to a .stack elevator mechanism for use in the hand feeding of sheets of material one by one from the top of a stack. More particularly, the invention relates to the solution of a problem encountered in the hand feeding of carton blanks composed of corrugated paper board to a taper or stitcher or other carton fastening means.

While the invention is susceptible of other uses, it has been especially contrived with carton blank feeding in view and it will be illustratively shown and described as applied to that use.

The blanks arrive at the taper or stitcher in tall stacks, each blank being transversely scored to divide four sections from one another, longitudinally scored to divide opposite end flaps from each body panel, and slotted to divide the adjacent end flaps from one another while leaving them connected to the body panels. Thus, each blank consists oftwo terminal sections, each comprising a body panel and two end flaps, and two intermediate sections, each comprising a body panel and two end flaps.

The feeding operative is required to deal individually with each blank as it becomes the uppermost blank of the stack, by folding the terminal sections or zones over and down onto the intermediate sections or zones, and by feeding the blank in this folded condition to the taper, or other blank fastening means to make the manufactured joint which becomes a corner of the carton when the latter is set up.

The total length of a blank, even after folding, is apt to be greater than the space between the side uprights or can overhang one of the side frame columns of the lift frame. It is necessary in such a case for the blank to be fed over the side uprights of the frame' This requires that the side uprights of the lift frame be limited in height so that their tops coincide substantially with the normal feed plane of the machine, this arrangement being known as an open top lift. An elevator 'is provided which may be intermittently raised by the operator to keep the top of the stack substantially even with the normal feed plane. Because the frame is limited in height, and because the frame must support and guide the elevator, it is not possible to drive the elevator platform up to the level of the side frame members, but only to a point several inches below that level, particularly if the table height above the floor, in bottom position, is held reasonably low and if suflicient rollercenter distances are maintained to support heavy pile loads. The result is that the operative, when the elevator is reaching its upper limit, is required, after folding each blank, to lift the blank from the top of the stack to the normal feeding level. This slows down the feeding and puts an extra burden on the operative.

It is the primary object of the present invention to cause the delivery end, at least, of the elevator platform to be raised automatically to substantially the normal feed plane as the elevator approaches and finally reaches its upper limit of travel.

To this end it is a feature of the invention that the elevator is made to include carrying arms which are supported, guided, and driven in fixed attitudes, and a stack supporting platform movably supported on the arms, together with lifters carried by the arms and engageable beneath the platform, and stationary abutment members for actuating the lifters so that the delivery end of the platform, at least, will be progressively raised relative to the supporting arms as the elevator nears its upper limit of movement, and will finally be brought level or substantially level with the normal feed plane of the machine.

Other objects and advantages will hereinafter appear.

In the drawings forming part of this specification:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a complete illustrative feeding unit embodying features of the invention; and

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary detail view in side elevation, showing the elevator at the upper limit of its movement and the platform tilted upward.

The illustrative feeding mechanism shown in the drawing includes a frame 10, which comprises parallel horizontal angle bars 12, side uprights 14 secured thereto, and crossbeams 16 and 18 connecting the uprights. An apron 20 extends between the uprights 14, with its upper surface substantially flush with the'tops of the uprights, and defines the normal feed plane of the work.

Bars 22 attached to the inner sides of the uprights 14 form vertical guides for angled carrying arms 24- which form parts of an elevator 26. Each arm has an upwardly extending inner end portion 28 and an outwardly extending horizontal portion 30. Each arm portion 28 is provided with upper and lower rollers 32 and 34, which engage opposite faces of the associated guide bar 22, guiding the elevator for vertical movement and maintaining the arms 24 in fixed attitudes.

The arms 24 are driven through blocks 36, which are attached to drive chains 38. Each chain 38 is trained upon an upper sprocket 40 and a lower sprocket 42. Each pair of sprockets at one side of the mechanism is supported on one of the frame uprights 14. A reversible motor 44, supported on crossbeam 16, is connected through reduction gearing in a gear box 46 to driving shaft 48. The shaft 48 acts through sprockets 50 and 52 and an interposed chain 54 to drive a shaft 56 upon which the sprockets 4-2 are made fast. The shaft '56 extends between the uprights 14 and is rotatively supported between.

The motor 44 is operated intermittently to inch the elevator 26 upward as desired, by stepping on a switch button 58. The motor is operated in a reverse direction when a stack has been exhausted by actuating a switch arm 60. The reduction gearing in the gear box 46 makes the drive irreversible, it being possible for the motor to drive the elevator 26 in either direction, but not possible for the elevator to drive the motor.

The structure, as thus far described, is conventional. According to the present invention, the elevator 26 includes a platform 62. As illustrated, the platform comprises a comparatively narrow roller table section 64 and a comparatively wide roller table section 66 arranged side by side upon angle bars 68. The roller table sections 64 and 66 rest by gravity upon the angle bars 68 and can be removed at will. Thus the operator may set up the mechanism to use only the narrow roller table '64, or only the wider roller table 66, or a combination of the two as shown.

The angle bars 68 are pivotally supported from the outer ends of the bar portions 30 through pivot pins 70. The bars 68 rest at their inner ends upon the outer arms of lifter levers 72. Each lever 72 is a lever of the first class, being pivoted at 74- upon the portion 30 of the associated arm 24. The levers 72 are limited with respect to counterclockwise rotation (as seen in Fig. 1) to the position illustrated in full lines in Fig. l. The inner arms of the levers 72 extend beyond the platform into position to be intercepted and arrested by fixed abutment members 76, which are carried by the frame uprights 14. As the elevator gets into its upper range of movement, the inner arms of the levers 72 engage the abutments76 and are arrested by them. This causes the levers 72 to be turned in a clockwise direction so that they lift the inner ends of the angle bars 68 relative to the pivoted ends of said arms, thereby causing the platform 62 in its entirety to be tilted upward at its delivery end. As the elevator continues upward, the tilt of the platform is progressively increased, until the elevator reaches its upper limit of movement. At that point, with the mechanism constructed as shown, the pivot pins 70 are located about 4 inches below the tops of the uprights 14, but the inner end of the platform is tilted up sufficiently to cause it to stand substantially flush with the upper ends of the uprights 14 and with the upper surface of the apron 20. In this way the operator is relieved of the necessity of lifting the blanks and is required only to slide them up an incline until they are seized by the feeding instrumentalities of the machine to which they are being fed.

The roller tables 64 and 66 are of similar construction, each consisting of a pair of channel bars 78 and a series of rollers 80, rotatively supported at their ends in the vertical webs of the channel bars.

In view of the very considerable width of the larger blanks, auxiliary supporting means are desirably provided in the form of idler roller tables 82 at opposite sides of the elevator for supporting the overhanging ends of a stack in initial position. The roller tables 82 stand flush with the roller tables 64 and 66 in the lowermost position of the elevator. Once the stack has been correctly adjusted on the elevator to balance the overhang, the stack can be raised by the elevator out of engagement with the auxiliary roller tables 82.

While a preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described in detail, it is to be understood that changes may be made therein and the invention embodied in other structures. It is not therefore the intention to limit the patent to the specific construction illustrated, but to cover the invention broadly in whatever form its principle may be utilized.

I claim:

1. A sheet-pile elevator mechanism adapted for the forward manual feeding of sheet material therefrom comprising in combination, a stationary frame, carrying arms supported from the frame and extending outwardly therefrom, means operable at will to raise said arms bodily through a limited range of movement, a platform normally supported horizontally by the carrying arms and movably connected to the outer end portions thereof, platform lifters supported on the carrying arms and engageable beneath the inner end portions of the platform, and means carried by the frame for engaging and shifting the lifters progressively as the carrying arms move upward through a final portion only of their range of movement, thereby to raise the inner end, at least, of the platform relative to the carrying arms and to a normal sheet discharge level which is unattainable by the platform in the normal relation thereof to the carrying arms.

2. A stack elevator mechanism for the hand feeding of sheet material away from the operator at a normal sheet discharge level comprising, in combination, a frame, a stack supporting platform having a discharge end away from the operator, means supporting the platform for tilting movement about a transverse axis remote from the discharge end thereof operable to carry the platform upward in .a normal horizontal attitude as the stack is progressively depleted, means for moving the platform supporting means up and down through a limited range of movement, and lifting levers carried by the supporting means and having portions positioned to be intercepted by stationary frame portions, and as an incident of a final upward movement of the platform supporting means to tilt the discharge end of the platform progressively upward about said transverse axis.

3. A stack elevator as set forth in claim 2, in which the stack platform comprises a series of parallel rollers whose axes extend in the direction of blank discharge and are therefore tiltable, the construction and arrangement being such that the rollers facilitate loading of the platform from the side but hold the stack frictionally against shifting when the platform is tilted.

4. A stack elevator mechanism for the hand feeding of sheet material away from the operator comprising, in combination, a stationary frame including side members which extend upwardly to substantially the normal sheet feeding level, an elevator comprising carrying arms having upturned inner guiding and supporting ends, means guiding the elevator through said arms for vertical movement, the upper limit of movement of the arms being necessarily located below the tops of said frame side members, a platform supported on the arms in a normal horizontal attitude throughout all but a final, minor portion of the elevator travel, and having a discharge side away from the operator, and connected to the arms for tilting movement about an axis remote from the discharge end thereof, means for raising the arms progressively as the stack is depleted, and means automatically effective as an incident of the upward movement of the platform through a final portion of its range of movement to tilt the discharge end of the platform upward for maintaining the inner edge of the stack top substantially at the normal feeding level until the stack becomes exhausted.

5. A feed mechanism for carton fastening means comprising, in combination, a frame including opposite side uprights over which the folded carton blanks are required to be fed one by one, a stack elevator including parallel supporting angle arms, each arm having an inner upwardly extending portion and a lower outwardly extending portion, vertical guide means carried by the frame, power means operable at will to raise the arms as desired, said elevator further including a stack supporting platform, means pivotally supporting the platform from the outer ends of the arms, levers carried by the respective angle arms and having outer ends engaged beneath the inner end of the platform and inner ends projecting inward beyond the platform, and abutment members carried by the frame in positions to be engaged by the inner ends of the levers so that the inner end of the platform will be tilted upward to raise the inner end of the stack, as the stack nears exhaustion, substantially even with the top of the frame.

6. A feed mechanism for sheet material comprising, in combination, a frame including opposite side uprights over which the sheets of material are required to be fed one by one, vertical guides on said frame, a stack elevator including parallel carrying arms, means carried by said arms and engageable with said vertical guides controlling the direction of movement of the arms and maintaining them in fixed attitudes, power driving means for the elevator including chains connected to the arms and guide sprockets for the chains mounted on the frame uprights near the upper ends thereof, the upward movement of the arms being necessarily limited to a level substantially below the tops of the uprights, said elevator further including a stack supporting platform, means pivotally supporting the platform from the outer ends of the arms, lifters pivoted on the arms near their inner ends and engageable beneath the platform, and stationary lifter actuating abutment members carried by the frame inpositions to be engaged by the lifters in the final upward travel of the elevator for causing the lifters to raise the delivery end of the platform above the arms, the constmction and arrangement being such that the delivery end of the platform can be brought substantially even with the tops of the frame uprights as the arms reach their upward limit of movement. 7

7. A feed mechanism for sheet material comprising, in

combination, a frame including opposite side uprights over which the sheets of material are required to be fed one by one, a stack supporting elevator comprising a tiltable platform which has a discharge end from which the sheets are delivered, means for driving the elevator upward through a limited range of movement as desired, to maintain the top of the stack substantially even with the tops of said uprights, the platform being maintained level throughout the major portion of the upward movement of the elevator, and means for automatically tilting the 10 5 with the tops of said frame uprights.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,137,381 Blackstone Nov. 22, 19 38 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No 2,908,497 October 13, 1959 I Clifford Da Keely It is hereby certified that error appears in the above numbered patent requiring correction and that the said Letters Patent should read as corrected below,

In the grant, lines 1, 2, and 3, for "Clifford D, Keely, of West Englewood, New Jersey," read Clifford Do Keely of West Englewood, New Jersey, aesignor of onehalf' to Raymond J., Baieley, of Hempeteed, New York;, 3 line 12, for "Clifford Do Keely, his heirs" reed mm Clifford Do Keely and Raymond J, Baisley, their heirs in the heading to the printed epecifioetion line 1, for "Clifford D Keely, West Englewood, Na J3" read Clifford JD Keely, West Englewood, N J ,eeeignor of one half to Raymond Ja Baisley, Hempstead, N, L vo Signed and sealed this 3rd day of May 19600 (SEAL) Attest:

KARL T ROBERT c. WATSON Attesting Officer Corrmissioner of Patents 

